I’ve been teaching for 35 years and the best experiences I have had teaching have been the cohorts at Northern Seminary. The combination of a week-long intensive with an active Facebook cohort page along with trips abroad for 10plus days … the classes become a fellowship of friends, of fellow followers of Jesus, and a classroom joy that transcends ordinary classes. Think of joining us even this summer. We begin with a one-week intensive but then the classes during the... Read more

By John Frye “Poetry is not the language of objective explanation but the language of imagination. It makes an image of reality in such a way as to invite our participation in it. We do not have more information after we read a poem, we have more experience” (Eugene H. Peterson, Subversive Spirituality, 125, discussing the Apostle John as pastor and poet). Peterson continues, “St. John is a poet, not using words to tell us about God, but to intensify... Read more

https://soundcloud.com/user-212639123/developing-a-culture-generosity-part-2-kr-57 Read more

I recently received a copy of a new book courtesy of the publisher, Old-Earth or Evolutionary Creation edited by Kenneth Keathley (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary), J. B. Stump (BioLogos) and Joe Aguirre (Reasons to Believe). This is an unusual book – it isn’t a polemical defense of a view. The contributors, despite very real disagreements,  regard each other as fellow Christians and treat each other as such. The book is a discussion (as much as a book can be a... Read more

How to Write About Tough Topics Without Rankling Readers, by Jonathan Merritt “How we talk about God matters because how we talk always matters: language does more to us and for us than we know.” This wise warning from Lauren Winner alerts us to the importance of paying attention to what we say. You do not need to convince me that her words are true. As a columnist who focuses on religion and politics, my job is to write about... Read more

The New Perspective on Paul rests on a set of historical and theological conclusions, none more important than arguing that Judaism per se was not “late” Judaism and was not a works-righteousness religion. Many Christian scholars were awakened by the Holocaust and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls to re-engage the core themes of Judaism. This important historical conclusion has survived the scrutiny of most scholars though at times some have argued at least a few Jewish texts evince works... Read more

Source: What Eugene Peterson doesn’t care about Celebrity culture It has been mentioned many times, and it is true, that Peterson really struggled with the celebrity status which the publication of The Message thrust upon him. On one of my visits I witnessed him thinking of creative ways he could dodge a Christian media organisation that was wanting to come and interview him on video when he would rather be out in the mountains with his guests.   He writes persistently about the... Read more

As Christians we are taught much about the presence of God in creation and in our lives. Less is said about God’s absence in creation. Justo L. González ([Creation] The Apple of God’s Eye) digs into both God’s presence and God’s absence.  There is much that we could discuss in these two short chapters, but here I will highlight only two points. First, God’s presence in creation is exemplified most significantly in his role in history. Our faith is anchored... Read more

In perhaps Greg Boyd’s deftest of moves, the theology of the cross of Luther is both absorbed by Boyd but centralized even more than Luther’s version. In so doing, Greg Boyd virtually contends — with proddings from Alister McGrath — Luther’s theology of the cross was not consistently applied by Luther. All of this is in Greg Boyd, The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. The issue is how Luther poses Deus revelatus (the God who reveals himself) over against Deus absconditus (the... Read more